It is indeed confusing

Over at Language Log, Geoff Pullum rounds up the linguistic news of the week in the UK, and includes this:

Caroline Petrie, the nurse who was suspended for offering a prayer for a patient's health, has been allowed to return to work. (You see, in the USA, where religion is strictly excluded from government, there is government approval of faith-based health and social services; but in the UK, where religion is firmly established as a part of the governmental structure and the Queen is the head of the Church of England as well as the Head of State, you are not allowed to bring your theistic mumblings into a state-funded hospital workplace. I know it's confusing, but I don't make the rules; I just try to report the linguistic news of the week.)

Confusing is one way to put it...